By Mike Kebonkwu
Caustic, uncharitable but I am afraid, almost believably true of this aphorism from the inimitable playwright, William Shakespeare in Henry VI, Part II. He created two characters, Dick the Butcher and Jack Cade who were poised to overthrow the state through a revolt. The characters were anti-establishment and anti-intellectualism; perceiving the elite as merciless exploiters and oppressors. This pithy witticism is not only to disparage lawyers but also to situate his role and position as the defender of the realm.
What did Shakespeare have against lawyers that he would they were consigned to a soulless undertaker? Shakespeare the master artist could not have been a law-breaker or criminal but the conscience of his society through a very keen observation of the state. The Shakespearean aphorism of lawyers is multi-dimensional and everywhere you turn, you see the appropriateness of its reality.
The American master story teller, Mario Puzo in his famous blockbuster, The Godfather created a character, Don Corleone who said, “A lawyer with his briefcase can steal more than a hundred men with guns”. In our street lingo here, we are no less uncharitable of lawyers when we quip that, “lawyers are liars”!
The lawyer may sometimes suffer credibility crises plying his trade, yet he belongs to the nobility of the society. He dazzles his client with arcane Latin phrases and tortured sentences to up his fees and probably win his argument, fair or foul. The lawyer is the ultimate face of Janus; just like ‘esu’ the Yoruba goddess of controversy; wearing double face. The lawyer represents the state, he represents the law, and he represents the criminals. Can you beat that!
With the lawyer and by extension the court system, the judiciary is never the last hope of the common man; it has never been, and at least not for now. In any case, the common man and the poor do not have access to justice in Nigeria. The existing law and morality are the law and morality of the ruling class that protect the oppressor.
The nation is buffeted with corruption and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is about the only performing anti-graft agency of government and institutions that is trying to thaw the block of corruption by politically exposed persons. Now EFCC has come under real siege and elite gang up to shoot it down with guided missiles from the lawyers sponsored and paid for by some sitting governors. The immorality of the whole thing is that this pack of wolves is led by none other than the Kogi State government. The same state whose current governor has been providing protective shield to its predecessor and former governor and fugitive, alleged to have siphoned over N80 billion from the coffers of the state. This is a governor who in decent climes should be facing the law for clear case of obstruction of justice; but here we clothe him with the toga of immunity and lawlessness. They are challenging the constitutionality and legality of the EFCC as well as the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC).
Of all the agencies and departments of government, these senior lawyers and their state governors have singled out about the only two effective performing crime-busters tackling financial crimes and corruption by politically exposed persons.
The strength of their argument is that the agency being the brain child of the United Nations Commission to reduce corruption and graft in developing nations was not domesticated as required by the constitution. They ignore the fact that the laws setting up these two agencies emanated from the National Assembly empowered to make law for the good of the state. They find support in their argument by some pedantic formalist and senior lawyers who totally ignore public policy and welfare of the state in pursuit of public good. These are our elected state governors and public officials who do not want probity and accountability; they do not want their official public acts to be scrutinized. They received monthly allocations from the federation account but would not want to be accountable to the federal government how the money is spent under federal law.
Many senior lawyers and respected Silks have joined the fray pontificating that the EFCC lacks constitutional foundation and therefore illegal. In their learning and position and without reflection, and probably also in their haste, they forget or ignore the place of public policy in legal draftsmanship and interpretation.
The legendary Reggae Maestro, Peter Tosh is a scintillating lyrical wax, “Equal Right” has the following lines, “…Everyone is talking about crime, crime, tell me who are the criminals, I really don’t know…”
In Nigeria corruption wears white linen apron and yet the criminals escape scrutiny and are never known. They tell us that there is a subsidy scam, yet the state cannot fish out those behind it. This is probably because those behind it are not wearing a common workman’s apparel but political garb of ‘babariga, agbada’, or a three-piece suits.
The state governors and their attorney generals want to kill the anti-graft agencies and the law and not reinforce it for effective performance. They want instead to create agencies at state levels that they can manipulate for political ends. The pursuit of this litigation is a perfidious act and those behind it deserve opprobrium of the highest order and should be consigned to the hall of shame. They have all the learning without knowledge, without conscience and without morality; they are not noble and honourable. If they succeed because of equally dearth of radical but philosopher lawyers at the Bench, it then follows that whatever the agency may have done from inception is a nullity. Again, those standing trial under the EFCC, and those still taking refuge under the veil of immunity at the National Assembly will go and do thanksgiving because the entity prosecuting them would have been judicially executed because it is standing on nothing.
The nation and its conscience are standing trial not only before the Supreme Court but also the court of public opinion. Posterity and history will judge this generation of leaders harshly. We are already a scorn and object of derision before international community. This litigation is a battle without morality and conscience. Nigeria has become a huge joke with sharks taking over the political space. Time is running out if we do not take urgent step to cure the insanity of these elements with desire to wreck the state. It is only a common criminal that will stop in the way of a law that is making positive impact on the society. We expect that every Nigerian should insist that we breathe life into the EFCC and ICPC to make them more effective and not to remove its life oxygen. We need courageous people to oversee and drive the agency giving it impetus in fighting crime especially financial crimes that is pervasive amongst the elites and political office holders. We expect these governors and their lawyers to be challenging why the budgets are not performing; we expect them to prosecute the failed contracts and contractors. At the end of the day, it is not going to be about who wins the argument with pedantic legalism but about what country and future we want to build; that is if we truly believe there is indeed any future for Nigeria.
Just before we kill all the lawyers, take a breather and ask your conscience if you are not part of it or contributing to it when you sell your mandate for palliatives and rig election to bring in people who should have no business with public office. This litigation is about the only significant evidence of corruption fighting back. To my learned friends, the country is coming to the valley of decision; we must take a stand!.
•Kebonkwu Esq, an Abuja-based attorney writes via mikekebonkwu@yahoo.com
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